This description of European higher education is unequaled for its clarity and comprehensiveness. Today, 100 years later, Matthew Arnold's observations are as timely as when first written. Inspector of schools as well as a poet and critic, Arnold watched democracy breed self-satisfied Philistines and realized that not all the liberty and industry in the world could ensure the rule of right reason. In 1865 he left England to investigate higher education in France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. In this volume Arnold traces the growth of schools and universities on the continent, examines the role of government in their development, and argues for organized public education and state schools in England. Included are the 1868 and 1882 Prefaces to Schools and Universities on the Continent, a newly discovered essay entitled "German and English Universities," and three letters written to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. This book makes clear the goals and achievements of European higher education and their relation to 19th-century and modern standards of learning.